Back-End System of BURSTT

TL;DR

BURSTT presents a two-stage backend architecture for real-time FRB surveys: initial beamforming on $256$ RFSoC inputs followed by second-stage beamforming and channelization on Intel Xeon servers using AVX-512/AMX, paired with a Bonsai dedispersion pipeline operating across $256$ beams. The system triggers data capture for VLBI localization via an outrigger network and is validated through beamforming tests with bright calibrators and real-time pulsar detections, including Crab giant pulses and normal PSR B0329+54 pulses, demonstrating high-fidelity signal processing and robust RFI handling. With an expected FRB yield of ~50 events per year and broad sky coverage, BURSTT has strong potential for precise FRB localization and multi-station follow-up, while future work will expand outriggers and optimize the operating band for enhanced sensitivity and new transient studies.

Abstract

The Bustling Universe Radio Survey Telescope in Taiwan (BURSTT) is a new-generation wide-angle radio telescope specifically designed to survey Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), energetic millisecond-duration pulses of unknown extragalactic origin. To realize its scientific potential, which includes detecting approximately 50 FRBs per year and sub-arcsecond localization capability, the system is designed to perform real-time beamforming and pulse search over the \SI{60}{\degree} $\times$ \SI{120}{\degree} field of view. This paper provides a detailed account of the design, implementation, and performance validation of the BURSTT back-end System. The system employs an efficient multi-stage processing architecture: initial beamforming is executed on the Xilinx ZCU216 RF System-on-Chip (RFSoC) platform; data is then transferred to Intel Xeon servers, where AVX-512 and AMX instruction sets are utilized for the second stage of beamforming and channelization, achieving high computational efficiency to ensure real-time capability. A highly optimized \texttt{bonsai} de-dispersion algorithm performs a real-time pulse search and triggering across 256 beams, which, upon detection, issues commands to the distributed outrigger system to save voltage data for very-long baseline interferometry (VLBI) precise localization. System performance has been validated through beamforming tests using bright radio sources and real-time detection of known pulsars, confirming the high fidelity of the signal processing pipeline.

Figures (13)

• Figure 1: Photo of the current 256-ant main array in Fushan.
• Figure 2: Backend system of BURSTT phase I.
• Figure 3: Flow chart of BURSTT backend system.
• Figure 4: Block diagram of BURSTT’s F-engine with 1600 sampling rate and 800 bandwidth. In the end, data at 0400 are discarded, and the data rate reduces to 51.2Gs.
• Figure 5: Photos of BURSTT outrigger stations in Taiwan with 64 antennas: LTN at Nantou (left), where the magneto-electric dipole antennas are contained in the white radome; and GRN at Green Island (right).